We immortalize every moment through our cameras, smartphones and other devices. After a while, we decided to relive those moments again through the players we have at hand, be it the Android photo viewer, or Windows own, which, although they do not meet all the user’s needs, come pre-installed and They can help us to get out of trouble.
The Windows photo viewer itself has been updated as the different versions of this popular operating system have been published. Initially it was called “Windows photo player”, but in Windows 10 output it underwent rebranding to be called simply “photos”.
Find the experience you want to have
The various updates of the camera software mean that there are currently countless types of files with their different characteristics and sizes. One of the most problematic is the HEIC format, “High Efficiency Image Format”, or what is the same, the RAW for the Cupertino company, creates infinite problems when viewing its content. That is why they have created a converter within their own operating system to transform them to JPEG with which we should not have any type of problem. Although yes, we must sacrifice some of the information that the lens has collected.
In the market there are many programs that can help us get the experience we are looking for, either through paid and free licenses that we will discuss below.
Free options
BonAView
This free software inspired by the late Google Picasa offers us the possibility of viewing the images available through their directories, albums or geotags.
BonAView also offers us two types of visualizations of our thumbnails. On the one hand similar to Windows Explorer. And on the other, we are for fans of 3d visualizers a much more visual alternative.
In addition, one of its most appreciated functions is that BonAView has an image editor that will allow us to carry out any type of basic editing that we want, among them we can find red eye removal, size adjustment, basic brightness adjustment operations. and color etc.
We can obtain this particular viewer from the following link in its latest version 1.9.0
FastStone Image Viewer
This photo viewer with a much more classic design provides an experience similar to the previous one with various additions. In its latest versions they have been adding various functionalities such as the possibility of creating a slide show or perhaps a contact sheet. In addition to adding your own image editor in the same way
This shows that, even having a free application for home use, it meets all the needs that an average user may have. The development of this software is currently in its version 7.5. We can download it here where we can even find a portable version of the said program.
Nomacs
Unlike the rest, Nomacs does not show by default a file structure in the form of a tree, but we must do it manually within its interface. Although it can not cause us much trouble because it has a fairly intuitive interface. One of the characteristics that stands out more than Nomacs is that thanks to its catalog of plugins we can customize it to our liking. Furthermore, it is fully compatible with RAW formats such as HEIC.
Nomacs also includes a small image editor with which we can adjust various values of our photographs such as saturation and exposure. Being in its version 3.14.2.4827 we can enjoy it on its website .
IrfanView
IrfanView is a minimalist alternative, with a freeware license, light, occupying hardly 3 MB as reported by its own website. We have left this alternative as the last one not because it is less important but because we think that thanks to its more extensive catalog of plugins that we can download from its own website. In addition, it has very interesting functions for application developers such as the extraction of icons and logos from EXE files, DLLs, etc. So much effort has been put into developing this software that seeks to provide the best user experience by being able to change the skin of the viewer itself or even the set of icons. All this is also included within the download page of this popular viewer.
It has features that will solve a large part of the editing problems in a fast way, such as the erasing of white borders, automatic adjustment of colors, etc. We can get it here .
Paid alternatives
Zoner Photo Studio X
We started with Zoner Photo Studio X, which although as its website says are defined as an alternative to Lightroom and Photoshop, the reality is that it is more a vitamin-enhanced viewer with image editing than simply a viewer. With Zoner Photo Studio X you will have access to your image gallery either on your computer, on Onedrive, Facebook or even in your own cloud. It has a price of € 39 a year in its annual modality or if on the contrary we want to pay month after month we have the option of payment with an amount of € 3.99.
The assistant in the first start accompanies us, teaching us each of the virtues of the software. With a minimalist interface we can test this software for 30 days and discover, if this software fulfills what we expect from it, being able to download it from the following link .
Pictureflect
If we discover that our user experience improves when working in full screen Pictureflect is the solution to our problems. Work without distractions when viewing any type of photo. Pictureflect shows us a range of possibilities when viewing photos or even videos through its transition effects. With a precise zoom that we can control with the wheel of our mouse, we will be able to capture even the details that we did not appreciate at first.
In addition, we can see and edit any type of metadata included in the file. These data include the location of the image capture, its title, the date the image was taken. We will not have any problem with the different files since Pictureflect collects the vast majority of formats available to date, including RAW, DNG files and images with HEIC format. And for the luckiest it is compatible with augmented reality devices such as Hololenses . To access its paid version it is necessary to go through its free application. Once there in the next option we can select the upgrade to the professional version with a price of € 1.99. We will find it in Windows Store as in the following link .
FastPictureViewer Pro
If we look for the optimization of our time when it comes to seeing any type of images FastPictureViewer Pro is the alternative we are looking for. With a classic design on their website , they make us a clear comparison by importing 1000 images in RAW format between Adobe Lightroom and FastViewer Pro. It results in a clear winner being FastViewer Pro, with a time difference of 1 hour and 10 minutes for Adobe Lightroom and 20-21 minutes with FastViewer Pro. One of the main points that this program has is that it is compatible with 4k and 5k monitors, without having any type of small font, as is usually the case when working with this type of resolution. When purchasing the product on its website for an amount of € 54.99, it includes a set of codecs with which we can open countless files. Among the most popular we find Adobe Photoshop files and even the famous JPEG 2000 files that are slowly getting into the web market.
Apowersoft Photo Viewer
Apowersoft offers us their version of photo viewer. We can see from its website its main characteristics. Among them, we can highlight the power to create a list of processes so that the different modifications are applied to each of the images while we continue to visualize the rest. In addition to opening most of the file types like the previous ones, Photo Viewer can take screenshots in a simple way. And, if we are looking for a PDF reader, we would be in front of our perfect viewer. ApowerSoft Photo Viewer is priced for your personal and lifetime license of $ 69.95 which we can purchase on their website .
We can see how there are a multitude of tools to meet each of our needs. From free options as we have seen to those with higher prices. But what we always say is that any type of software that we install is of quality and that it meets our needs without having to sacrifice the performance of our equipment.